Crimean Cup cocktail appears in Jerry Thomas 1862 Bartenders Guide, noting a tribute to Alexis Benoît Soyer who was a French chef and became the most celebrated cook in Victorian England. He also married Elizabeth Emma Soyer, a very popular English oil painter.

Alexis Soyer worked to improve the food provided to British soldiers in the Crimean War. A variant of the field stove he invented at that time, known as the “Soyer Stove”, remained in use with the British army until 1982.

In Jerry Thomas’s book, we can read “from a recipe by the celebrated Soyer”. The recipe is published with a ratio of 30 people, notably the chef was used to cook for many but I measured it to one glass only.